1971 Pontiac Lemans Convertible

[fsdproject]

It's been almost two months since I updated this post, I have been busy with work and summer activities.

I wanted to get the frame as complete as I could before I put the body back on it because it's much easier to work on it with the body off. This included things like the engine, transmission, cross member, headers, exhaust, etc. So that meant I needed to source an engine and transmission. I had been looking quite a bit at buying a drop-out engine/trans from a yard, buying an older Camaro or Firebird, trying to find engines and transmissions on craigslist, etc. An idea I came across on other builds that I found very appealing was to buy an entire donor car. As I did my research a logical donor car to me was a 2004-06 GTO. They have newer LS engines, nice interiors, and typically have lower miles than older LS1 Z28s or Trans Ams. Lots of salvage yards have listings on the Internet and I started to search those for a good candidate. I found a 2004 GTO with 60K miles at a yard a couple of states away.









As you can see I bought it from East Coast Auto Source in Virginia. I bought it through phone calls and emails, they were very good to deal with. They even arranged for shipping with a carrier they recommended. It arrived less than a week after I bought it.

It obviously got hit on the side, which was a plus for me. I was reluctant to buy one that got hit on the front since I didn't want to worry about what was damaged under the hood. It arrived with a broken ignition lock and no battery, after I dealt with those issues I was able to start it. It actually drove just fine (up and down the driveway).



My plan is to get quite a few parts out of this – engine, transmission, radiator and cooling fans, wiring harness, most of the interior including the dash, console, front & rear seats, and other miscellaneous bits. Then I will sell what’s left (which will be mostly body parts, suspension and wheels/tires) and cut up the carcass and recycle the metal. Based on my research and calculations I should make out pretty well with this, it will be much cheaper than buying all of the parts I need used on ebay and definitely cheaper than buying these parts new. I am hoping there is good karma here also – parts from a newer Pontiac going into an older Pontiac.

Next up, disassembly of this donor car.